This invention relates broadly to the art of safety nets which are externally mounted on buildings to catch persons and/or objects and debris falling from the buildings, usually during construction. More particularly, the invention relates to such safety nets which can be vertically and/or horizontally adjusted along exterior surfaces of buildings, as well as along interior surfaces of large interior spaces.
A number of safety nets which are vertically adjustable on buildings have been suggested, some of which are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,838,382 and 3,949,834 to Nusbaum, and 4,732,234 to Brickman. A difficulty with many of these prior-art safety net assemblies is that in order to move them vertically on buildings, which is frequently necessary, they must be detached from the buildings, substantially disassembled, reassembled and reattached at a new level. Such a procedure is not only time consuming and labor intensive, but is also complicated, requires a relatively high degree of skill, and can be dangerous. Thus, it is an object of this invention to provide a building safety net which can be vertically adjusted without being disassembled and reassembled.
Further, many prior-art building safety nets must be anchored to sides, and/or floors of buildings by lag bolts which are inserted in holes bored in walls and/or floors of the buildings. Boring and preparing such hole is time consuming and labor intensive as well as being destructive to the building. Therefore, it is another object of this invention to provide a building safety net which can be vertically adjusted usually without the necessity of boring holes in a building but yet which can be easily, quickly, and securely attached to and detached from the building.
Still other prior-art building safety nets are supported mainly on cables extending from winches, or the like, located near tops of buildings so that the safety nets can be quickly raised and lower. Although these safety nets offer the advantage of being quickly vertically adjustable, they are not particularly safe nor do they meet government requirements in that they are not securely anchored to the buildings and can therefore move laterally away from the buildings at inappropriate times. Therefore, it is still another object of this invention to provide a building safety net which can be easily vertically adjusted, but yet is securely anchored to a building once it is moved to a new vertical location.
Many prior-art safety nets comprise units which are placed side-by-side on a building to provide a long safety net at a vertical level. Once the units are in place they must be clipped together to ensure that they do not separate. This clipping, and unclipping when the net units are moved to new locations, is time consuming and can be dangerous. It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a safety net assembly for which it is not necessary to clip or otherwise attach end edges of adjacent net units together.
A related difficulty encountered when using many prior-art safety nets is that corner units are difficult to assemble and adjust. Thus, it is an object of this invention to provide a safety net assembly having a corner unit which can be adjusted vertically without disassembly thereof and which, once it is moved to a new vertical position, does not have to be reclipped or otherwise attached to adjacent net units.
It is still another object of this invention to provide a building safety net which is easily and quickly vertically adjustable, can be securely anchored, is relatively inexpensive to construct and is not unduly labor intensive to operate.